U.S., Iraqi forces in ‘final rehearsal’ for campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State

[Geee]

Washington Times:

U.S. and allied officials say the final training for Iraqi forces will be done by the middle of the month, clearing the way for the long-anticipated campaign to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and a key stronghold of Islamic State.

Canadian Brig. Gen. Dave Anderson, the coalition’s director of training for Operation Inherent Resolve, called the training over the next two weeks the “final rehearsal” for the assault, and military officials estimated Wednesday that they will need between 35,000 and 40,000 troops to hold Iraq’s second-largest city once the terror group also known as ISIS or ISIL is driven out.

 

“Mosul’s going to fall, there’s no doubt about it,” Gen. Anderson told reporters during a briefing Wednesday from coalition headquarters in Baghdad.

 

But a victory in Mosul does not equal a defeat of Islamic State in Iraq. The city’s eventual recapture “just means [islamic State] is defeated in its current format” as a viable fighting force on the battlefield, according to the one-star general.

“So it’s definitely not over. If anything, it’s going to be more difficult,” he said of the fight facing Iraqi, American and coalition forces after Mosul.